Byron Webster looks ahead to the new season

Byron Webster has stated that the final week of pre-season will be the "perfect preparation" for Millwall ahead of the 2017/18 Sky Bet Championship campaign.

The squad returned from a week-long training camp in Portugal on Wednesday and now look forward to friendly matches against Barnet, Stevenage and Granada Club de Futbol before the Championship season gets underway at Nottingham Forest on 4th August.

The defender, who is entering his fourth season at The Den, told millwallfc.co.uk of the importance of pre-season as the players returned to their Calmont Road base on Friday morning.

"I don't know what the exact plans for the three games are, but I'm sure all of us will be due to get a couple of 90 minutes in," said Webster.

"We're all looking forward to the opening day at Nottingham Forest, but these games are important for fitness and shape - there will be times in the season where we're forced to play three games in a short space of time, so this coming week will be the perfect preparation."

The 30-year-old also claimed that despite the arduous nature of a long League campaign, pre-season is in fact the hardest time of year as a professional footballer.

"Pre-season is the hardest part for us. Once the season begins, with the games coming thick and fast, we have a routine of playing a game, recovering and then a bit of training. Pre-season involves a lot of hard training with not many games to break it up."